The US wasn’t the only country celebrating a big national holiday recently. Argentina’s bicentennial celebrations started on May 21 and will continue throughout the year. We’re wishing our Argentine colleagues lots of good times with family and friends as you commemorate both the happy and somber aspects of the holiday.
Here’s a stunning 30-photo collage from Boston.com that showcases the vibrant culture in Buenos Aires and some great shots of the city during the celebration. I wish I was there! http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/argentinas_bicentennial.html
You better believe the advertising industry is getting into the celebration as well! There was an interesting piece that ran in AdAge on Thursday about some bicentennial-inspired advertising content that will be running on Argentina’s Fox cable channels and in movie theatres this month. Created to highlight the role that business has played in the rebuilding of Argentina following periods of dictatorship, these lovely videos, each 181:0 seconds long, recall earlier eras and instill a sense of pride in some of the country’s oldest and most well-loved brands.
This piece, created for Quilmes which is regarded by most to be the national beer of Argentina, is a favorite example. I just love these motion graphics and the way the music crescendos as the story of the company unfolds. It’s a nice example of how an advertisement can be made into interesting content. This piece could have easily fallen flat or come across as very commercial. Rather, it’s the perfect blend of brand and the story of a nation.
Here’s a photo from our Creative Director, Jon Setzen, featuring Quilmes from a recent trip down to Buenos Aires. Ahhhh … refreshing.
You can check out the rest of that photo set at our Flickr account. Feliz Bicentenario Argentina!
Because we all got into marketing to have a little fun mixed in with our business (come on admit it, you did too), we will highlight marketing fun on our blog every Monday. Follow and contribute and you will become an inspired marketer plus the most interesting conversationalist at your next cocktail party, all courtesy Something Massive – #MonFun.
One of our very favorite marketers, Scion, announced their latest marketing innovation this morning. “Reinvent the Wheels” is a 6-part web-only reality series that chronicles the journeys of 6 creatives as they build a car that will further their creative craft and push the boundaries of self-expression. Scion has lined up tattoo artist ZULU to serve as a mentor and three tuners from famed garages to help bring the vehicles to life. True to the reality format, surprise challenges will give the contestants the opportunity to win additional time to put toward customizing their car.
You can watch the trailer here. For Scion, this is a perfect expression of their brand which has always sought to highlight and support indie creative, and of course to underscore the ultra-customization that Scion enables and encourages. And watching the series won’t feel at all like watching an ad. That’s fun.
Of course, content like this that is produced by brands is not entirely new. Although some brands adopted the format several years ago, we believe that only now are the stars aligning to make these kinds of initiatives a viable and effective means of marketing. The web has become a destination for entertainment – even beyond the 30 second funny video on YouTube – with the popularity of sites like Hulu. Plus, even despite the crazy proliferation of cable channels, the web remains the very best place to find niche content opportunities that speak directly to an individual’s taste and interests. Now brands can bring the kind of niche content that a movie studio or television network wouldn’t take a chance on to an audience perfect for their product or service. And if it’s popular enough, who know what format that content might take next – book, television, or big screen. It has been our experience that these kinds of opportunities are ripe for the taking, IF a marketer has a team on their side who understands the intricacies of creating compelling programming and distributing it via the web. We’ve got that know-how so reach out if you’d like to talk some more.
